Bank protection



y 1936- w. E. COOPER 2,046,726

BANK PROTECTION Filed April 18, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 7, 1936. w.E. COOPER BANK PROTECTION Filed April 18, 1954 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTORPatented July 7, 1936 UNiTED STATES;

PATENT O F F I C E BANK PROTECTION William E. Cooper, New York, N. Y.ApplicationApril 18, 1934,. Serial No. 721,082 7 1 Claim. (ciao-1.0.1:)

This invention relates to the protection of banks from holdups androbberies.

Special objects of the invention are to enable such crimes to bestopped, without endangering the lives of bank empioyees, patrons and.others rightfully present; to provideapparatus for the purpose which canbe readily installed, at no great expense, as a built-in portion of thebank structure, which will be proof against gas, as .well as the moreused forms of attack; and to provide in cooperative relation with theactual protective means, mechanism for automatically, recording eventsand for establishing identification of the bandits involved.

Other objects and the novel features, combinations andarrangements ofparts which make up the invention are set forth in the followingspecification, illustrated in. accompanying drawings and broadly coveredin the claim.

The drawings referred to, show anillustrative embodiment of theinvention, it being appreciated that many changes and modifications. maybe made, all within the true spirit and broad scope of the invention.

-g. 1 in the drawings is a broken front elevationv or the entrance to abank or other structure to be protected, showing in particular the.guard turret or. tower immediately'over. the. doors. and giving fullview to sidewalk .andstreet' ini frontoi the bank.

Fig. 2 is a similar view from inside, showing how this tower aisocommands a full View of the interior of the bank or other structure.

Fig. 3 is a broken vertical sectional view down through the turret, ason line 33 of Fig. 1, illustrating how it is set in the wall so as togive commanding views both ways.

Fig. 4 is a broken horizontal sectional View of the turret as on line 44of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a broken horizontal sectional detail as on substantially theplane of line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

As appears in the several views, the turret l, is in effect a smallguard room and sentinel post of 5 bullet-proof construction, set in thewall 8 of the bank structure, so as to give View to both the interiorand the outside of the structure. Placed directly over the main entrance9, as indicated, a sentinel on watch, can observe what is going oninside or out in front of the bank and can see who is entering andleaving.

The turret may be made as conspicuous or as inconspicuous as desired,and be only a small booth, substantially the thickness of the wall, orjut out at one or both sides, as shown. In shape it may vary. quitewidely from the generally circular form shown butv the latter isconsidered preferable because of the wider angle view both Ways.

The windows may be arranged in diiferent 5 ways. In the illustration,there is one long arcuate window In, at theinside and a series of smallarcuate windows I I, at the outside, all of bulletproof glass- Thewalls. may bemade of armor plateor equiv 10? alent and areshown as.double, with thermal insulation. [2, between.

A....temp.eratur'e governing or air conditioning unit indicated at. 13,which, with the booth entirely closed toboth; the interior and. exterior15.

of the building, may be used to furnish heat in winter and to cool the.chamber in summer.

For ventilation and more especially for. countering gas attack,intakeand exhaust ventilating fans M, l5, are shown, oppositely placed20.

preferably, such as indicated, one at the bottom; the other at the topand in diagonally opposite sections, so as to quickly fully sweep outthe booth. Both are shown opening to the outside so as tohandlefreshrioutside air. They: may be-protected by grilles or be otherwisesuitably covered, preferably in such. a way as toprevent firing throughthe same from the outside. Thus entrance tothe intake. might be upbetween the double walls andthe exhaust be covered by the: overhang ofthe inclined bullet-shedding turret top l6. A suitable switch orswitches are provided for starting one or both fans separately ortogether and slides such as IT, may be placed for shutting theventilating ports from the inside.

Access to the booth is had, in the illustration, by a concealed passagel8, up through one of the adjoining columns IQ of the building, at oneside of the door. This passage is shown as con- 40 taining a ladder 2i]and as extending from a lower level such as the basement, up through thebank floor 2! and opening into one side of the booth. A door 22 at thetop, secured by an inside look or latch 23, controls this passage. Withthis construction a guard or guards may enter or leave the tower withoutpeople on the bank floor knowing it.

One or more firing ports 24 are provided but it is intended, at present,that these be placed only at the outside, substantially as shown. Thisis so that a guard on duty cannot fire on bandits in the bank, whichwould in most cases cause bandits to start firing indiscriminately withconsequent loss of life, but must wait until they are leaving and canthen be singled out and picked off as they pass out the door.

To insure that no escape is made by other exits, a push button or likecontrol 25 is conveniently located in the booth to effect the securingof any other exit or exits. This same control, or a separate one, ifdesired, may be employed for sending in a silent alarm to the police. Atelephone 26 enables the guard to keep in touch at all times with bankofiicials or others and an annunciator 21 may be provided for signalingthe guard from different stations in the bank.

To record events as they occur, a wide angle moving picture camera 28may be trained on the bank interior and this may be under the control ofthe same, or another push button 25, or the like.

Because of the greater accuracy an automatic rifle, such as indicated at29, is preferred to a machine gun and there is shown associated withthis rifle an automatic moving picture camera 30, which will point withthe gun and record the action. The sights of the gun and camera may beso related that the aiming of one will efiect the aiming of the otherand the means for starting the camera may be placed so as to beconveniently actuated in the handling of the piece.

From the foregoing it will be seen that in case of a holdup or the like,the guard, by actuating one control 25, sends in a silent alarm to thepolice, locks any exits other than the main door and starts the camerato record the scene in the bank. Stationed so he can observe everyaction at the inside, he is ready to pick them off as the bandits passout the main door and here again the scene is recorded, foridentification and other purposes. The door 22 may be gas tight topreclude such an attack up the shaft I 8 and the fans are available tosweep the turret with fresh air at any time. The conditioner orconditioners l3 enable the guard to keep comfortable at all times, shutoff from the bank. The function of the police, with this system, wouldmainly be to keep people away from the front of the bank to leave thefield clear for the guard and with proper coordination a situation maybe handled without injury or loss of life to innocent parties. Noattempt is made to trap the bandits within the bank so no cause is givenfor indiscriminate shooting. The presence of the turret over the door isin effect a warning and deterrent to crime.

If desired, reflectors or periscopic devices may be located to enablethe guard to see directly beneath the booth and hence the entiremovements through the doorway. The same results may be accomplished bybullet-proof transparent panels in the floor of the booth. By theprovision of a suitably located speaker connected with a microphone inthe booth, the guard may give commands to the bandits, warnings to thoseon the street and otherwise direct matters.

While especially intended for the protection of banking houses it willbe apparent that the invention is adapted to other than this particularuse. Accordingly words and phrases employed herein are to be consideredas used in a descriptive rather than in a limiting sense, exceptpossibly as limitations may be required by state of the prior art.

The hidden passageway may also be closed off at the bottom to preventthe flooding of the same with gas fumes or the like. Other changes andadditions may be made all within the true intent and broad scope of theinvention.

The windows may be extended down or additional windows be placed in thesides of the turret to give view close to the outside wall of thebuilding, so that one attempting to hide against the wall of thebuilding may be observed by the sentinel on duty. Vertical extendingwindows at the sides also may be provided in the inner wall of theturret if the same are found desirable.

What is claimed is:

Bank and like protection, comprising in combination with the wall of abank building having a doorway therethrough for passage of patrons intoand out of the bank, a guard turret built entirely in said wall andimmediately over said doorway, said turret having means providing viewto both sides of said wall directly in line with travel

